Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Happy National Pet Day!
“Hey Boys! Time to get up! It’s National Pet Day!”
“Tiger?”
“Benji?”
“Yes Sue?”
“It’s National Pet Day! I wanted to let you both know how much I value your love and companionship! ”
“Sure, sure,” they said. “That’s great. We’ll celebrate right here. Now could you turn off the light on your way out?”
“Sure boys. Sorry to bother you.”
Happy National Pet Day!
From Susanne, Tiger & Benji
Bicycling the Green River Trail
Today reached 68 degrees and Bob was desperate to get out of the house so we used our ‘essential’ recreational time to take our electric bikes for a spin.
We headed for the Green River Trail and it was perfect. I hit the pedals and laughed out loud as I soared effortlessly down the path.
All was green and chartreuse and budding or blooming, and birds were out and about.
The Mountain was out too, a beacon in the distance;
and for a few hours today all seemed right with the world.
~ Susanne
2020 SuperMoon
The closest supermoon of 2020 occurred last night so even though I already posted moon shots earlier this week I thought I’d give you another.
According to Wikipedia, “A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth.”
Is it just me or does this photo remind you of E.T.?
~ Susanne
Embracing the Moon
It was a warm and pleasant evening, quiet but for the chirping of the frogs.
I watched as the moon rose full in the sky,
embraced by the trees,
and was blessed.
~ Susanne
Making Face Masks with Help From Benji
Last Sunday I made my first face mask to wear to the grocery store. I made it quickly by hand without a pattern, and it worked okay.
Since then we’ve all been encouraged to wear them in public so I decided to make a few more, for me, my mom, and Bob. This time I would be more thoughtful about it, add an additional layer of fabric, and use the sewing machine. By the time I was working on mom’s I was starting to get the hang of it.
Then Benji showed up to help.
Don’t let that innocent look fool you. The boy’s a wild man.
So I tried to distract him with some thread
which worked for a while –
until it went the way of all small objects and ended up under the stove.
Still it gave me time to finish up mom’s face mask – the best one so far. Three layers of fabric instead of two. A few tucks and gathers for better coverage and fit.
By the way – I’ve been meaning to ask – does this face mask make me look fat?
Just kidding. Don’t answer that. 🙂
~ Susanne and Benji
Say Hello to the Handsome Tiger
As you may know if you follow this blog I have two kitties – Tiger and Benji.
Tiger was here first and thus has seniority –
but Benji gets the most press.
So my apologies to you Tiger if you’ve had to take a backseat –
you’re still the most handsome – don’t tell Benji I said so.
~ Susanne and Tiger and Benji
Venus and the Pleiades
This week Venus is putting on quite a show so I set up my tripod and got this photo from the front yard. Honestly I didn’t see the star cluster Pleiades with my naked eye but my camera did.
During these trying times it’s good to look up!
Psalms 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.”
~ Susanne
Let’s Go Visit the Tulip Fields!
There’ll be no Tulip Festival this year and you already know why! But that doesn’t prevent us from traveling back in time to last year’s festival in Washington’s Skagit Valley, where fortunately I took enough pictures at Roozengaarde to have plenty more to share with you!
The fertile Skagit Valley – roughly sixty miles north of Seattle – is home to the largest commercial flower bulb industry outside of Holland. In March the daffodils are on display while in April the tulips dazzle.
The North Cascade Mountains provide the perfect backdrop to the mass of color in the fields;
while the display gardens mix and match varieties and colors into wonderful works of art.
For more information on the Tulip Festival that wasn’t and to drop by on your device, click here!
Until next year!
~ Susanne
Life During a Pandemic – A River Walk and Facetime with Mom
Yesterday we walked along the Cedar River Trail.
There were a handful of others with the same idea and we all kept our distance,
even the ducks.
The willow trees were beautiful and weeping once more
The cherry trees (or plum – I can’t tell them apart) were fragrant in bloom,
but the flowering current had the best shades of pink.
It was all wonderful, but there was more to come.
For after our walk we stopped by my mom’s apartment, where she has been in lockdown the last three weeks, with limited opportunity to even leave her room.
Through it all she has remained cheerful and upbeat – at 90 she has seen it all.
That’s my beautiful mom.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 